At long last, the nightmare of 4th Division football was extinguished, at
least for the time being. Another house cleaning and new attitude combined
to push WSV over the top, and they were up to the task for promotion.
Coach Georg Kress was able to motivate his players to show they belonged
at a higher level - and do so in a consistent fashion.
The season opened up in promising fashion, with a 5-1 away rout over
Rheydt. However, despite being unbeaten early, WSV was hampered by weak
performances. Then, they were clearly outplayed by Borussia M'gladbach's
so-called "Amateurs", and yet another miserable campaign chasing the
Bundesliga B squads (last two seasons as runnerup to Luserkusen and Koeln)
seemed inevitable. This was made worse that Rheydt declared bankruptcy and
withdrew from the league, so that opening victory was annulled.
But WSV going, winning 7 of the next 8 matches, including a glorious 6-0
rout over arch-rivals Fortuna Duesseldorf. They further strengthened their
claim as the league's pacesetter by winning 7 straight after the
winterbreak. No one could withstand the WSV onslaught, and by the time the
only threatening club, Gladbach's so-called Amateurs, were beaten by
end of March, there was little doubt who the Oberliga Nordrhein champion
would be. WSV coasted home, ending the season with yet another satisfying
win over Duesseldorf.
Most of the team performed well, and a couple of the newcomers had heavy
impacts. The biggest plus was undoubtedly forward Oliver Ebersbach, who
notched 18 goals. Goalkeeping was among the league's best, with Heese
and Maly keeping things secure at the back. The defense was solid
throughout the year, with Mehnert,
Blaeker and Reckert, all newcomers, contributing. Veteran Frank Klemmer
was the only returning player. However, the outstanding defender was
probably Mirko Stark, who also gave a great attacking contribution, his 11
goals second only to Ebersbach. A plesant surprise in midfield was the
emergence of youngster Thomas Rietz. Veteran playmaker Jean-Louis Tavarez
was also outstanding. In the attack, last season standout Alex Kohout was
hampered by injury, but combined with Noel Kipre to bag 15 strikes.
There were some interesting occurences off the field.
WSV entered into an agreement with potential rivals Borussia Wuppertal
midway through the season. Borussia had been a strong club in their two
Oberliga seasons, but does not have the financial resources to compete at
a higher level. So the two clubs agreed to "cooperate" to further the
cause of Wuppertaler football. In practical terms, it meant that a few
players, coaches and managers ended up switching teams. The most
promising was probably Borussia forward Lukas Kasperczyk, but
unfortunately, he was severely injured in an automobile accident before
suiting up for WSV.
Financially, it was undoubtedly another disappointing year for the club.
Despite winning the league easily, WSV could only attract an average of
2,200 fans into the Zoo. Local derbies with Solingen, Borussia and Velbert
hardly increased this average. The only big match was the 6,000+ against
Duesseldorf. On the other hand, you could look at this positively as well:
this broke a trend of 7 straight years of declining attendance, and a
definite plus over last season's miserable 1,300 average. With Rot-Weiss
Essen and St.Pauli among others, there are certainly several attractive
matchups for the coming campaign.
All-in-all, a good season, and off to the Regionalliga!
